Day 26 – Key Largo

Friday morning, as planned, Peter motored Kite out the Fort Lauderdale inlet into the Atlantic at about 9:30. Our companion boat had decided to wait for better weather on Monday. The wind was still strong from the East, but the waves were a little less chaotic than they had been when we sailed there on the previous Monday. We were able to make great time sailing to Miami, and Lyn snapped a photo of the Chart Plotter showing our speed at 7.4 knots.

7.4 knots through the ocean!

Turning into the Government Cut inlet about 12:30 and escaping the waves, we headed up the channel toward Miami. An hour later, Kite entered Biscayne Bay and again hoisted her sails for a fast passage down to No Name Harbor to anchor for the night. It felt good leaving the big city behind for the last time (at least until we return). With such an early arrival time, Peter and Kevin decided to take a swim off the stern of Kite followed by a refreshing rinse using the boat’s stern shower. Lyn blew the conch at sunset and the sky colored up nicely.

Leaving Miami behind

Kevin swims in No Name Harbor

Sunset at No Name Harbor

Sunset at No Name Harbor

Sometimes a day does not go at all as planned, but still turns out fun and interesting. Our plan for Saturday was to go down the Hawk Channel to the Pilot House Marina on Key Largo. However the weather forecast was for continuous strong winds and big ocean waves in Hawk Channel, and we decided to take the Intracoastal Waterway on the bayside (north) of Key Largo. This turned out to be a good choice. The wind remained strong, but there were no waves. As we left No Name Harbor we saw dozens and dozens of sailboats sailing south on Biscayne Bay, apparently racing, and we fell right in behind them.  We no sooner got into the “race” when we heard a “person in the water” alert on the radio, and the position given was right near us.  We started scanning the area, a Coast Guard helicopter began circling overhead, but we saw nothing. Soon afterward, the announcement came over the radio that the person was back on board and all was well.

Post-race gathering of sailboats at Key Largo

With that excitement over, we started enjoying a beautiful sailing day, and even overtook several of the boats in the race. When we arrived at Anchorage Marina on Key Largo, where we had reserved a slip, we found all of the boats from the race tying up, or rafting together and anchoring all around us. We were glad we had reserved and there was a slip waiting for us. The race group was from the Miami Yacht Club. It was a 38 mile race from Miami to the bottom of Barnes Sound on the bayside of Key Largo, through beautiful open areas with only 3 short, narrow channels that were well marked which we all had to transit.  The Club members were all friendly to us and invited us to join them in their celebrations. The “rum dum” flowed freely. The day ended with much merriment.

Kite is now officially in the Keys!